RINGER TO THE RESCUE
I fish a commercial with an island all the way along at 25m. How should I fish the feeder there?
“An island is too good a feature to ignore and has to be exploited”
Dennis Robertson, Bradford
IT’S STILL cold (we had snow at Easter after all!) and the shallow water around an island is not necessarily the place to target just yet.
At the same time, though, an island is too good a feature to ignore totally and has to be exploited. Getting this right will be the key to unlocking a good day’s fishing.
Let’s start off with where to fish. Casting tight against an island when the water temperature is still low might not be the right option.
A recent match I fished at Packington was a brilliant example of this. Normally, on Little Geary’s, I’d want to be fishing tight to the mud of the island’s bank. However, at the moment the water is just a little bit too shallow.
I found that I could get the odd bite, but it was clear the fish didn’t want to settle or feed confidently in what in reality was probably around 12ins to 18ins of water.
For this reason, after 35 minutes, I ended up dropping back into the deeper water, and that made a huge difference to my bite rate. I reckon I ended up fishing 3m off the bank in 3ft to 3ft 6ins of water which, in summer, would be too deep – but on the day it was where the fish felt happy to feed.
The change was amazing, and I went fairly rapidly from getting just the odd bite to a bite every cast. The message here is that depth is crucial, so if you start by casting tight to the island only to find that things just aren’t happening, don’t be afraid to drop back into the deeper water.
Small mean more bites
Feeder size is also worth talking about. With the water still pretty cold and relatively clear I’ll always start on a small feeder, with a Mini Hybrid being a real favourite of mine. Of course, I can always change this if I feel the fish want a bit of bait, but for short chuck feeder fishing it’s always a good starting point.
Weight of feeder depends on the state of the bottom where I’m fishing. If it’s nice and flat, I’ll fish an 18g size as the lighter the feeder, the less disturbance it makes on the cast.
If, however there’s a bit of a slope, I’ll step up to 24g to make sure the feeder stays put once it’s on the lakebed.
I can’t stress how important it is that the feeder doesn’t move after casting, because if it does it means that your hookbait will be away from the loose offerings and your chances of a bite will be massively reduced. If I do think the feeder has been moved, I’ll simply reel in and reset the trap.
A little tip to try and minimise the chances of the feeder moving is to fish a relatively slack line between quivertip and feeder. This means that if a fish does bump into the line it’ll be less likely to drag the feeder down the slope.
In terms of hooklength and hook choice I’ve never been a believer in going too fine, so taking into account the size of fish you’re targeting I’d be looking to fish 4ins of 0.17mm N-Gauge to a size 14 QM1 hook.
Scale down hookbaits
Moving on to hookbait choice, at this time of year I tend to stick to small hookbaits, so I’m talking 4mm or 6mm wafters with a few dead maggots as a change bait.
In terms of wafters my favourite colours are yellow and orange, but confidence is key, and I’d always advise going with what you believe in. I just find that a small hookbait is better for F1s, which don’t have huge mouths like carp.
That doesn’t, of course, mean that a carp won’t pick up small hookbaits because they definitely will!
A little tip here if it’s mainly F1s that you’re catching, and they’re being a bit finicky, is to try single dead red maggot. This can be a brilliant hookbait in that sort of scenario.
Always go for pellets
Last up is bait to put around the feeder – that’s either pellets or groundbait, or even a bit of both. Unless I have prior information telling me what’s been working best then I’ll always opt for 2mm pellets on the feeder, the reason being that they’re a very safe option in terms of always being good for a few bites.
Groundbait, on the other hand, tends to be very much all or nothing, as in brilliant or hopeless! If you’re ever fishing pellets but are in doubt about using groundbait, try adding a handful of groundbait to your pellets to see if it makes any difference in terms of intervals between bites.
Boost your feed
Pellet choice depends on fishery rules, but if I can use my own I like to use a mix of two-thirds Ringer Baits Method Micros to one third Dynamite Baits F1 Sweet, both in the 2mm size. I’ll also give the pellets a boost with a good glug of Ringers Sweet Energy just to give them that bit more in terms of attraction.